4th of July peek-a-boo cupcakes

When I lived in New York, I loved celebrating Independence Day or 4th of July as it’s most often called. Eating patriotic snacks while watching the fire work on the East River; it was great. With the current circumstances in the United States, I wonder what the 4th of July will look like. It almost feels misplaced to celebrate such a nationalistic holiday when the country isn’t in a smooth phase. I hope that by the time that it’s July 4th, the piece has returned to the country and that the steps that are needed are taken.
Nevertheless, now that I live in the Netherlands, I still like to bake something American for the 4th of July. Preferably in the colors red, white and blue from the American flag. This year I made 4th of July peek-a-boo cupcakes. On this page I’m telling you how I made them, and I’m showing it to you as well in my latest YouTube video.

Peek-a-boo Cupcakes

Have you ever heard of peek-a-boo cupcakes or peek-a-boo cakes? Peek-a-boo cakes or cupcakes are (cup)cakes with a surprise inside. These cupcakes might look like regular decorated cupcakes but there’s a surprise waiting inside when you start eating them.
You’ll notice as soon as you take a bite or when your fork’s cutting of a piece. I once made a peek-a-boo cake with m&m’s inside, but these cupcakes have red, white and blue sprinkles inside!
Most people will wonder how you get the sprinkles inside of the cupcake. Also, because they didn’t melt in the oven! On this page I’m telling you the secret to peek-a-boo cupcakes in this recipe for 4th of July peek-a-boo cupcakes.

Cupcakes

You can use store bought cupcakes for these 4th of July cupcakes, but you can also bake them yourself.
Here I’m sharing the basic recipe for vanilla cupcakes. If you’re using store-bought cupcakes or if you have your own cupcake recipe, you can scroll down to the recipe for the peek-a-boo cupcakes.

Ingredients (for 6 cupcakes)
60 grams unsalted butter, roomtemperature
60 grams sugar
4 grams vanilla sugar
60 grams selfrising flour
1 tablespoon milk

Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla sugar until creamy. Spoon in the flour and the milk.
Divide the batter over 6 cupcake tins and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Let them cool completely before going to the next step for the peek-a-boo cupcakes.

Recipe 4th of July Peek-a-Boo cupcakes

Ingredients (for 6 cupcakes):
6 cupcakes (see above for the recipe)
Red, white and blue sprinkles
Powdered sugar
Water

Make a hole in the top of the cupcake. An easy way to do it, is to use the mouth of a piping bag. Lightly push it in the top of the cupcake and turn it 180 degrees. If you lift it up again, you’ll have taken out a small round piece of the top. Save this piece for later.
Mix half of the sprinkles together and use a teaspoon to spoon the sprinkles in the hole. Put the round piece of the top of the cake back in place.

Mix about 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar with 1 teaspoon of water to make frosting. Use a teaspoon to cover 1/4 of the cupcake with the frosting. Decorate with blue and a few white sprinkles. This will be the blue part of the flag with the stars on it.
Make a stroke of frosting at the bottom of the cupcake and sprinkle with white sprinkles. Continue to make strokes, alternating red and white.

Watch the video below for the tutorial.